Muhadderât ve Etfâle Mahsus Bir Osmanlı Dergisi: Âyîne
An Ottoman Magazine for Muslim Women and Children: Âyîne

Summary/Abstract: Novelties carried out in the 19th century to modernize the Ottoman Empire brought about significant changes in the lives of Ottoman women. Meanwhile in their writings, the intellectuals of the period debated on how to raise well-educated generations as a solution for the backwardness of the Ottoman Empire. The common view acknowledged by those intellectuals was that women who were the fundamental member of family and mainly responsible for raising children needed to be well-educated and well-informed, which would contribute to the development of the society. As a result of these views, newspapers and magazines pertaining to women and children began to be published in the late 1860s. Among all such publications, the magazine named Âyîne which began to be published in Thessaloniki in 1875 have a significant place as the target group of the magazine consisted of both women and children. Therefore, the articles published in the magazine were about education for women, duties of women, family relations, and upbringing. In this study, the articles in Âyîne were thematically categorized and then the topics such as perception of woman in the period, status of woman in the society, upbringing, moral values children should gain and methods to teach these values were investigated. In addition to these topics, the changes in the lives of women with the effect of Europe and information about daily life were also investigated in the light of the articles and readers’ letters.

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